WSDEs in prisons ?

posted by Pauli Olivet | 225pt
August 08, 2016

I saw some articles online about many states that run dog training programs in their prisons. Prisoners train the dogs, some of which were problem dogs left at the pound. Prisoners and dogs alike are socialized. The dogs go into families in local communities, and some of the dogs achieve the level of service dogs.
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All the socialization of prisoners, dogs, prison staff, and outside community benefits begs the question: Why not socialize profits and revenue from the programs? Prisoner financial debt upon release is additional, undue punishment, and it works against rehabilitation.
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What about developing a variety of WSDEs in the prisons. Capital models are busy exploiting prisoners to profit corporations, while the public pays to keep prisoners. Opportunities are already identified. and many personnel are already in place and working. Thus, changing the model for direction/management could very quickly demonstrate improved results for the businesses and the communities. If US prisons can’t give up their compounding punishment models, would it work to start such programs in some foreign prisons to develop best practices and demonstrate results?

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Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus at UMass Amherst and a visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University in New York. Richard Wolff is also a co-founder and active contributor of his non-profit: Democracy at Work